


One Mistake is Not a Crime

by Jania28



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jania28/pseuds/Jania28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thought if Erik were completely honest with himself, he and Charles had been drifting apart even before Shaw’s death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Mistake is Not a Crime

**Author's Note:**

> X-Men and their characters belong to Fox and Stan Lee, they are not mine and this story was written for entertainment purposes only.

Thought if Erik were completely honest with himself, he and Charles had been drifting apart even before Shaw’s death. Their ideas were so different that Erik wondered how long he would have stayed if the twisted metal bullet in his pocket hadn’t made the choice for him. Two pieces of metal had changed his life ripping apart his family and his heart in the space of a day.

He had tried to go back, to see if Charles was alright…if he had moved on, but the mansion had vanished, concealed, Erik supposed, by Charles’ power. This hurt deeply even though he had only lived at the place for less than a month. He knew Charles was shutting him out, telling him he was no longer wanted.

Erik had tried his best to fill the hole Charles had left in his heart, but it wasn’t an easy task. He knew Emma Frost and Shaw’s other associates only saw him as their next meal ticket and turning to Raven for comfort just caused them both more guilt and pain then they needed.

So Erik hunted instead, hunted for mutants who believed as he did, reaching out to them as Charles had done for him. It was his way of showing those left behind they weren’t needed, that his Brotherhood would succeed where Shaw had failed. Tonight he tracked a woman, who Emma was right, could travel through time itself.

But the streets seemed determined to hide his quarry from him, obscuring people through dense fog and cutting Erik off from everything but his own dark thoughts. What if he could have made a different choice, told Charles how he felt or even walked away before he grew too close to anyone. “Choices can be changed,” commented a soft voice from the fog.

Erik was used to the strange and was able to hide a flinch as a plain looking, emaciated woman with bright red hair seemed to part the smoky clouds and approach him. “Do not worry,” she said, “I did not read your mind, and my power allows me to see what was and what will be. And the answer to your questions are no and yes. No I will not join you, but yes you may be able to have what you have lost.”

Erik drew in a sharp breath and began to speak, but the woman held up a hand. “I will make you an offer,” she said, “a simple one really but it will change everything you know. Take my hand and see the future, make new choices and heal yourself. Or refuse and lose everything, your friends, your power and even the life of the one you love. The path of your refusal will be slow, but rest assured son of metal, it will be painful.”

The woman extended her hand to Erik and waited, her fathomless eyes seeming to see right into his soul. He could almost see himself as an old man…sitting alone at a chess board struggling to move one, just one of the small metal pawns. He could feel his older self’s pain, his loneliness and most of all the terrible grief of a life half lived…and he chose.

Erik Lensherr chose to live a new life in the future rather than dwell in the past.


End file.
